In So Many Words
by Gaia Faye
Summary: A series of drabbles stories of 100 or 200 words on a variety of characters based on mailing list challenges.
1. Freedom

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ, blah blah..

Author's Note: These are a series of drabbles entered for challenges on the 0-DBZ-Fanfiction club on Yahoo. A drabble is very short fic of either 100 or 200 words (usually). These drabbles are on a variety of topics and characters. Enjoy.

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Drabble Challenge #1: "Beginnings"

Title: Freedom

Rating: G

Word Count: 100

Freedom.

He didn't think he'd ever grasped the full meaning of the word until now. Soon Freeza would be dead, as would Kakarot, but the tyrant's demise held so much more meaning. All the years of belittlement and slavery would mean nothing in only a short time. He would be the strongest in the universe, free to do what he wished, especially to all his rivals in the intergalactic empire's army. Freeza's time would end. His time would begin.

Vejita laughed, tearing blades of grass from the ground and tossing them into the air. They drifted about as they wished.


	2. Give Me Another Chance

Drabble Challenge #8: "Second Chances"

Title: Give Me Another Chance

Rating: PG

Word Count: 200

I screwed up. Bad. I didn't mean for it to happen, but one thing led to another and next thing I knew I was eating dinner with a woman I barely knew. But I swear nothing would have happened afterwards even if Bulma had not been there with a business partner. God, she made such a scene. She was so wound up that she started accusing me of cheating on her for months. She's such a dramatic brat!

But I still love her, and I did go out with that woman, so I'm guilty, though not in the length Bulma insists. I made a mistake, but I won't let it happen again. I may have faltered, but Bulma is important to me. I don't know why this temptation had to be what reminded me that I truly love her, but that's not important. What's important is that I make her know that before she does something stupid. It may sound paranoid, but sometimes I think I catch her looking at Vejita, of all people.

I called and left a message, and I'm sure she'll call back and everything will be fine. She'll give me another chance. I'm sure of it.


	3. The End

Drabble Challenge #14: The End of All Things

Title: The End

Rating: PG

Word Count: 200

This isn't supposed to happen. I mean, it always seems like it's going to, but then at the last second before the Earth's fate is set in stone some wild _deus__ ex machina_ pops up out of nowhere and the day is saved. But… nothing has happened.

I keep trying to tell myself that the 'last second' is going to come around any moment now and everything will be okay. But I know. The opportunity for the 'last second' passed us by, and now we are truly doomed.

Goku is dead. Otousan is dead. All the other warriors are gone, except for me. I'm cradling Goten's body closely as the world crumbles around us. I hear Okaasan scream somewhere and I look around for her, but there's too much smoke and the ground is shaking so hard I can't focus. I try to feel for her, try to assure myself that she and Bra are still there, but all the energies of the planet are going completely haywire and screwing with my senses.

But I'm pretty sure they're dead now, just like I'll be. There is no 'last second', only these final ones.

Oh, God, Goten… How did this happen?


	4. Rivalry

Drabble Challenge #19: Forgiveness

Title: Rivalry  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 200

She asked why I never took her shopping before. I shrugged and said I was probably too busy. She accepted my answer and went back to the dress rack, and I thought about the real answer: sibling rivalry.

When Bra was born, I noticed Otousan was giving her more attention than he ever gave to me. At first I angrily blamed my otousan and made the mistake of expressing this to Okaasan. If she hadn't been taking care of Bra, I might've just gotten a stern lecture. What I received was a tirade on my selfishness. She coarsely pointed out that Otousan's former life had been anything but tolerable, and I should be grateful he'd felt comfortable enough to pay me any mind at all.

Okaasan hadn't meant to make me feel like I was to blame, but I did and I hated it. I rejected the idea and decided that my little sister was to blame. Unfortunately, after years of nurturing my jealousy, I couldn't think of a single reasonable reason to hate her. Realizing this, I recognized that neither my father nor my sister were at fault. Unfortunately, this was just how things turned out. So I forgave.


	5. Crash

Drabble Challenge #20: As the World Falls Down

Title: Crash  
Rating: PG-13  
Warnings: A bit of foul language  
Word Count: 200

"It's not like I've been leading you on, Yamcha."

"What! We've been dating for years!"

"We've barely spoken in over a month! Ever since you..."

"I explained that to you!"

"Yamcha, your actions made it very clear that you don't think much of us."

"You are so damn... What about you!"

"What?"

"You think better of us than I do? You, the woman who stares at that monster's ass every chance she gets!"

"I do not!"

"Good job of looking me in the eyes when you say that."

"Regardless, it's over. Especially the way things stand now..."

"What do you mean? What's the matter?"

"Yamcha..."

"What is it?"

"I'm pregnant."

"You are? Oh, my god! That's fantastic! But why"

"I'm only a month along."

"You didn't answer my question. Why"

"Yamcha. A month. Think about it."

"...Oh."

"I"

"Who's the father?"

"I haven't even told him yet."

"Who is it?"

"Yamcha..."

"Damn it! Who is it, Bulma!"

"It's Vejita."

"What?"

"Don't be so dramatic about it."

"WHAT?"

"Don't yell at me!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Look, it's none of your business anyway, so"

"Shut-up."

"Excuse me!"

"Just don't fucking talk to me anymore."


	6. Natural

Drabble Challenge #21a: Natural Disasters

Title: Natural

Rating: G

Word Count:

"Let's go!" Goten exclaims. He stands and looks at me expectantly.

I stay sitting and stare at the television. The coast is being ravaged by a hurricane. People are in danger. Some have already died.

"Trunks!" Goten snaps. He shoves my shoulder.

I glance over at him. Goten isn't the type to see this as a moral dilemma. When people are being threatened, he sees it as a call for him to go save them. He doesn't think about the natural course of things.

We usually don't stay on top of the weather to see if we can save any lives. This is close to West Capital, though, so it's been all over the news. We are well aware of it. But even so...

"Why are you sitting there?"

We've always protected people from villains, but those enemies have been conscious beings who made choices. Weather is just following its natural course, and people have always been aware of what it can do. Weather is not an unknown enemy that pops up and purposely causes destruction. It just happens. Weather has no choice.

Then again, we do. And it's in our nature to help people.

"Okay," I say. "Let's go."


	7. Losing

Drabble Challenge #27: Things Forgotten

Title: Losing

Rating: G

Word Count: 200

Instead of retaining the only feature that marked them Saiyajin, their tails were removed. And so they look perfectly Human.

Trunks would have been first in line for the throne, and I would have been the example of the kind of king he would be. He would have his pick of a good, strong mate to bear their heir to our world's future. But his mother is his idol now; he shall follow her path. He shall pick a wife for himself and not for his people.

Bra would have been next in line and prepared to take over for her brother if he could not fulfill his duty. She would have received many courtiers for her hand and be mated to only the best, the one who could defeat her in battle. But Bra does not have to ready herself to take over her brother's presidency. She may pick any profession and choose any husband, regardless of strength.

In their chosen occupations, they will contribute to the world. They are not being trained in how to lead it.

This is how things are done and not done on Earth.

It is not Vejitasei.

A place only I remember.

Vaguely.


	8. Gaining

Drabble Challenge #28: Things Remembered

Title: Gaining

Rating: G

Word Count: 100

"Papa?" speaks my child. My half-Saiyajin child who acts human.

"Yes?" respond I. I who would have been King.

"I have a question." Bra crawls into my lap and looks up at me. On Vejitasei, such intimate behavior would have been darkly frowned upon.

"What is it?" I hold her. This would have been almost taboo behavior.

"Can you teach me to speak Saiyajin?"

I am bewildered and can only reply, "Why?"

She whispers, "'Cause then we could talk to each other and no one would know what we are saying."

I smirk. There is hope for this human yet.


	9. A Life Lesson

Drabble Challenge #37: Innocence

Title: A Life Lesson

Rating: PG

Word Count: 200

The Briefs family walked in silence to the gardens. She handed the shoebox to Trunks and took up the shovel. She started to dig between two rosebushes.

"Papa," Bra whispered, snuggled in her father's arms. "I don't understand what happened to Scratches..."

Vejita watched Bulma dig. "He's dead," he said.

"What does that mean?"

Vejita shifted uncomfortably. There was something wrong with him being the one to explain the end of life to his daughter. He had been surrounded by it his whole life. He'd seen it, he'd caused it, and he'd experienced it twice. It was difficult to fathom death

being a new concept.

"It means... you won't be seeing him anymore," Vejita finally answered.

"Why not?"

"He got old." He watched Bulma set down the shovel. She took the box from Trunks.

"You and Mama are old. You're not dead."

"One day"

"Vejita!" Bulma hissed and reprimanded him with a glare. "Not now. Okay?" She placed the shoebox in the hole.

"Wait!" Bra squirmed out of her father's grip. She picked some brightly colored flowers from the garden and set them on top of the box. Bulma started filling the hole back in.

"Goodbye, Scratches," Bra whispered.


	10. What Happened Here? Part One

Drabble Challenge #42: Aftermath

Title: What Happened Here? (Part 1)

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 200

"Oh, my," Bulma murmured as she recognized the man asleep beside her.

She sat up carefully, so as not to wake Vejita. The previous night was more interesting in hindsight than it was during the actual experience. Who knew that Vejita could be intimate with another person?

He would be upset when he woke up, she realized. Now that his hormones had been spent and whatever atmosphere that had developed between them last night was gone, he couldn't possibly react otherwise. She giggled. It would be quite interesting when he woke up.

Bulma quietly slipped out of bed, put on a robe, and padded to her bathroom. She didn't feel upset at all. Of course, she didn't have the emotional qualms that Vejita did, she couldn't say that she didn't find the Saiyajin attractive. She often found herself leering at him when he did training exercises outside.

She wondered if she would get pregnant. Oh, well. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it. It wasn't like she couldn't deal with having a baby. Though Vejita might have a different reaction to being a parent. She laughed again.

Her smile widened as she heard Vejita shift on the bed.


	11. What Happened Here? Part Two

Drabble Challenge #42: Aftermath

Title: What Happened Here? (Part 2)

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 200

What was going on? Why was he in the woman's room? Why were the sheets so disheveled?

And in the name of anything that might be sacred, why was he naked!

But he did know, didn't he? He was just in denial. But at the moment the evidence to the contrary was embodied not only in the environment around him, but in his obvious nudity and graphic memories.

Where was Bulma anyway? With that question in mind, he recognized the sounds coming from the bathroom. Brushing her fucking teeth, he realized. How could she just go about her routine like that! Didn't she understand that they had just...

A mindless routine suddenly didn't sound quite so bad. He slid out from the sheets and quickly scanned the floor for his clothes. He was pulling on his pants when he realized she was standing in the bathroom doorway and staring at him. He could feel his cheeks burn. He scowled.

"Nothing I haven't seen," she said. Was she actually smiling around that toothbrush!

"I have to go," he grunted, grabbing his other clothes.

"Later, cutie." She winked at him.

He managed a growl before he slammed the door closed behind him.


	12. Move On

Drabble Challenge #45: Words That We Couldn't Say

Title: Move On

Rating: G

Word Count: 100

"This is great, Mom!" Goten cheered before swallowing another serving of fish.

"I'm glad you like it." Chi-Chi smiled as she ate slowly from her own plate. "I need you boys to go fishing again. The freezer is running low."

Gohan nodded. "Sure." He grinned at his little brother. "Tomorrow I'll teach you some fishing tricks I learned from…" He trailed off, but recovered with a cough. "That I learned when I was little," he finished. He set his eyes on his plate and felt his mother glance at him.

Goten was oblivious to the awkward moment. "Cool!" he exclaimed.


	13. Sleep Tight

Drabble Challenge #47: Lullabies

Title: Sleep Tight

Rating: PG

Word Count: 200

The door slid shut behind him, and Vejita looked around his new bedroom. This was where he would be staying when he wasn't off-world purging planets. This was his home.

He felt sick, finally. The news of the destruction of Vejitasei had been a shock, but it took a while for it to sink in. His home was gone. His father was gone. He and two others were all that remained of his entire culture.

So sick.

So tired.

He pulled off his boots and armor, and he slid into bed. It wasn't anything like his massive bed at home. But that didn't exist now. He didn't bother trying to get comfortable. He just lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"No! NO! Ha ha! I won't do this anymore!" screamed a voice in the hall. One of the other soldiers.

The prince closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.

And the soldier outside kept on screaming. "I live for myself! Ha haha ha!" There was a scuffling sound; he was apparently being apprehended by compound guards. "What— Release me! Ha! You can't control me anymore! You can't! Ha hahaha! I'm free!"

Vejita desperately tried to sleep.

"FREE!"


	14. One By One

Drabble Challenge #50: Going Through the Motions

Title: One by One

Rating: PG

Word Count: 200

Enma Daiou, as he'd been doing constantly since the beginning, glanced over the page once before he slammed down one of his stamps onto it. He made his decision in less than a mere moment before moving on to the next file. A person's life on a single page.

Simple as that. At least for a lesser god.

Well, maybe not so much. A bell rang, signaling that it was time to receive special souls who would be allowed to plead their case, or simply needed to be reprimanded and directly told of their fate.

One being entered. It was a horrid evil thing and would not be allowed any sort of argument. Voice booming, Enma condemned it to Hell.

The next walked in, and Enma was surprised only for a moment. Everyone died, so he wasn't sure why he would find the Saiyajin Prince's presence in his office remarkable at all. So he went through the proper motions, and urged Vejita to make his case.

Enma listened to his words, emotionless but sincere. He deliberated for maybe a full moment, then made his decision and pounded a seal onto the page.

And then he called the next soul in.


End file.
